Thursday, March 6, 2014

Christmas in Minnesota

Its always a treat when we get to travel to my family's house for Christmas. This year JJ got sick a little while before we headed out there although I was optimistic that we'd have a good travel day. I won't give you all of the depressing details but here it is in a nutshell...

woke up WAY early and was at the airport around 6, got on our plane, pushed back, waited to be de-iced, took forever, another plane went off the runway, they closed the airport, we headed back in...(we sat on the plane for a good hour and a half) Our flight was delayed, then canceled, then my dad had us booked on one way later, our flight was re-instated, then we boarded hopeful and sat next to our new friend Corey and his IPhone with movies, and finally made it to Denver! JJ started crying during our decent and didn't stop much at all... he slept in 10 min shifts and cried in between for the rest of our almost 3 hours in Denver (I wasn't in great shape by the end either) Finally we boarded a plane to Minnesota and prayed for no delays. JJ calmed a little although once we landed he wanted nothing to do with my family and didn't want anyone to look at him... He finally warmed up once we made it to their house and the rest of the week was better.

JJ loves to play the guitar and especially the ukulele because it's his size.

He spent time cuddled up next to grandpa, and watched him play golf.

He got lessons on the piano from grandpa as well.

My family got the tree right before we arrived and we were able to decorate it together.

JJ really loved the cats this trip!

He gave them kisses and squished him every chance he got.

While decorating we discovered a birds nest in the tree, how cool!

Justin had the same lovely delays coming to Minnesota JJ and I had (worse even) although he handled it much better than we did.

Decorating the tree is always a family affair. We put Christmas music on in the background and we all take turns putting ornaments on the tree, then later my mom not-so secretly rearranges things as she sees fit.

every time we see them JJ has more and more fun with my brothers!

we went to the mall of America one day (crazy) and had Bubba Gump shrimp co. for dinner.

These two make quite the pair... Brian...

I'm pretty sure one of my parents favorite things is to read JJ a book since they get to squish him at the same time.

JJ surprised us with a surprise guitar performance, and even held open a music book while he played.

Braeden got the lovely job of unwrapping all of the Hershey kisses for the peanut blossoms.

Joycelyn loves JJ, and he loves her too... although sometimes it doesn't quite show in a picture...

See I told you there were quite the match... goons.

This is one of my favorite things about being home, eating together with my family. Most families think about what they're going to do when they get together but ours thinks about what are we going to eat!

sometime ago we started the tradition of appetizers on Christmas eve, and this year we had quite the spread. Pizzas, pot stickers, egg rolls, avocado egg rolls, potato skins, green bean fries, stuffed mushrooms, and pesto chicken bites.

That night we opened our pajamas like always.

Then we opened our presents from Joyce and Brian, JJ got a super cool set of light up shoes, and some cars and a track.

Justin and I got awesome IPhone cases with pictures on them!

Brian got sweatpants! he seriously lives in those when he's not in his work clothes.

Spencer and Braeden had a gift together and got some Reese's too!

Then Joyce opened her presents from us! my mom got her lots of cooking supplies so she can be an awesome chef at college.

This girl gets excited about her kitchen tools!

The next morning was CHRISTMAS! this is JJ's stocking. The rules for stockings in our house are if Mom and Dad aren't awake you can take things out of your stockings but you aren't allowed to unwrap anything.

JJ had fun unwrapping things until he discovered what was hiding in the bottom of his stocking...

the nerf gun! can you tell he was excited about it?

this kid wasn't interested in much else after he found the nerf gun!

Justin got a cool tie, some trick golf balls, a chocolate orange and of course a nerf gun! (and some other stuff I cant remember)﻿

Brian got Luggage! super exciting huh? he got lots of stuff for his mission since they didn't want to buy stuff he couldn't use during.

Justin got an Xbox game he really wanted.

It looks like my parents had a great Christmas!

Once JJ warms up he's good to go! he loved sitting next to braeden and playing games on the kindle.

He really liked coloring with his uncle Spencer.

He really REALLY loves Zoey although I don't think the feeling is mutual she puts up with his affection.

We watched a movie and JJ got to sit in his spot, drink his milk and even eat a cookie, what a spoiled kid!

When we went to the Mall of America the boys went and did a ropes/heights course while my mom and I watched. Braeden is afraid of heights but was a trooper and made it all the way to the top!

In the picture below you can slightly see the boys right at the very top almost hanging off the edge!

JJ was really glad to have grandpa safe and sound on the ground again!

We even rode some kid rides (the boys rode the big coasters without us)

for Christmas JJ got a fedora from his uncle Braeden and he loves to wear it!

All in all we had a fun-filled trip with lots of snuggles, food and good family time!